Double Helix
by GeishaGorgeous
Summary: Kate is able to convince the Russians of what happened at the Norwegian base and is able to rescue MacReady in the nick of time. What will happen though when an unexpected visitor arrives at Vostok #12? This is a 'straight' sequel to both the 1982 and 2011 films. Currently rated T but may go to M in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1—Safe and Warm?

He could hear the wind outside and could almost feel the thumping sounds that the wind made as it smacked against the building. The sensation bothered him, and worse, it was waking him up. MacReady had been hoping, with enough effort, he could keep his system shut down and never wake up. It was his body that had other ideas; his blue eyes started reacting to a light that was way too bright for his taste—so bright that he slipped out of his dream world and back to reality with a thud. _Am I at a hospital?_ He shifted his body weight carefully, eyes still half closed, only stopping his movements when he felt a pain up his right side that was punctuated by a sick squeak beneath him. _Regulation cot. So I am not in a hospital. Where the hell am I?_ Taking a chance, he opened his eyes and saw he was in a small room that looked nearly identical to the one he had played Chess Wizard in. A small woman was sitting next to him on his left. _Maybe I am still dreaming; since when did pretty women ever go up to Antarctica?_ "Hell, how long was I out of it?" He sounded raspy, indifferent.

"About two days. You needed the sleep though. You have a few broken ribs, and you were suffering from hypothermia when we found you." She patted him reassuringly on the shoulder, a small gesture on anyone's part but for her it was a big deal. To an extent, she had always been more comfortable with fossils than with other people. Having to be up close and personal with another human being was not something that she was overly fond of. She could have found herself getting close to Carter if the obvious hadn't happened, but that was an impossibility now.

MacReady found the touch an odd contrast to her tone of voice. She sounded cold, a match for the temperature in the room. Methodical. "You're a scientist." He said it casually, more of a statement of fact than an accusation.

"Paleontologist."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Same thing. So, you work here? How did you even know to look for me?"

"I am, was, a PhD candidate from Columbia University. One of my specialties is cold weather digs," she paused, started fidgeting with her hands, knowing that he wouldn't like what she was about to say, that no normal and sane man would, "I was brought over to the Norwegian camp to get something out of the ice."

MacReady quickly put two and two together. "So, you let the damn thing out." He shook his head side to side, signaling his displeasure. "How are you gonna live with that?"

The venom in his voice hurt more than a slap could have. MacReady didn't seem a violent man, but still she braced herself, waited for him to react physically. If he were suffering from shell shock, he could be capable of anything. God knows that she was.

He noticed the fear on her face. "I am not going to hurt you," he sighed, "you are one messed up person."

"I am not going to disagree with you there, although I could say the same to you."

"Yeah, whatever."

She bit her lip, still trying her damndest to do nothing other than look stoic. She knew that she was failing miserably. "I didn't let it out," she said defensively. "In fact, I told my 'superior' that we should wait; that we needed sterile conditions to do proper experiments. He didn't listen and it ended up costing all of us."

MacReady regretted his attitude when he saw her chin tremble. He took her hand, held it, unsure of himself. He was an introvert, a loner. He didn't go out of his way to make human contact with anyone and he liked it that way. "What took you guys so long though? That thing almost bit us all on the ass."

"The weather." She pulled her hand from his grasp and pointed towards the small window to the right of MacReady's cot for unneeded emphasis. "You know how bad it was. It took me three days to convince the Russians that I wasn't out of my gourd. Once we were able to get to what was left of Carter and—"

"Carter?"

"He was a pilot like you, worked at the Norwegian camp. It ended up being the two of us fighting the thing at the original crash site. I made it out, Carter didn't."

"You had to kill him," his voice softened to a whisper.

She nodded her head in the affirmative. "He was infected. I wasn't sure at first until I noticed that his earring was gone."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"It can't duplicate inanimate material," she opened her mouth, giving him a good view of her teeth, when he gave her a nod she continued speaking. "If you have earrings or fillings it spits them out."

_So Childs was human after all_, he thought to himself_._ MacReady was impressed with this girl. It was nothing short of clever her coming up on the fly with a much easier and less painful test than the one he had come up with.

"Anyways," she continued, "by the time we got to Carter and grabbed some samples—"

MacReady bolted up in bed, wishing that he hadn't, as he started to hiss at the unwanted exertion being placed on his body. Hands clenched tightly into fists, back arched forward and shoulders hunched over he did his best in staying composed. It wasn't easy for him, starbursts of pain clouded his eyes as a dry taste welled up in his mouth. His visitor hadn't been exaggerating about the broken ribs. "Samples?" He croaked out. "Destroy them. All of them."

"I did it myself. They are all gone. I only agreed to their collection when the Russians told me that was their condition for letting me, and any survivors we found at #31 a place to stay."

That answer seemed to appease MacReady just enough that he let her help him lay back down on the cot and pull the covers back up over his chest. Either that or he had tired himself out getting up and just didn't have the energy to fight with her. She thought the latter was more likely, as his body started to relax, his breathing settling into a normal rhythm, sleep taking him again. She was tired herself, but couldn't sleep. She was alright only as long as she wasn't alone and didn't close her eyes. At least now she was with someone who understood what had happened to her and had survived it too. That was an intangible gift and one that made her feel safe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to Corinne Tate for helping me with some basic grammar stuff with this chapter.

She sat in the darkness for two, maybe three hours, just long enough for her eyes to start closing, despite all of her best intentions. It was MacReady's voice ringing out in the darkness that startled her back awake.

"So, you gotta name?" He sounded calm but inside he felt jumpy and could feel his nerves dancing beneath his skin. Idly, he debated asking her if she had any good booze nearby. He needed a drink badly.

"Kate Lloyd. You're at the Russian base—Vostok #12."

MacReady remembered Vostok #12 was a good two hour flight from #31. Garry had told him on the flight to Antarctica that while the American and Norwegian camps were interested in scientific discoveries, the Russians were at their base only to try and keep tabs on what everyone else did, via various forms of espionage.

Whether or not that was true, or if Garry had been smoking some of Palmers' stash MacReady really didn't know or care, but he found it interesting that the Russians had been kosher with Kate destroying the samples. Wouldn't they want the Thing as a weapon? The thought worried him but he played it cool; he couldn't afford to make waves until he was mobile.

"So, what do we do now?"

"We wait until we can get out of here and head out to McMurdo." She smiled at him reassuringly. "We should be out of here in a day or two."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How's Childs?"

"Your friend? He didn't make it, I'm sorry."

"I don't remember much after we shared that bottle." He knew that he and Childs hadn't had much of a chance out in the cold. The alcohol would've only made things worse, but at that point, he had been past caring.

"To be honest, I'd already made my peace with it. I was ready to die." Way to brighten the conversation MacReady, he thought to himself. Fortunately Kate didn't seem the least bit nonplussed about his confession.

"MacReady?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I pull a cot next to you and try to get some sleep?" She knew it was forward of her and very school-girlish, but she knew she needed sleep. The only way she was going to get it, was if she stayed as close to MacReady as possible.

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed before making a slapping motion on the side of his cot. "Yeah, sure."

It didn't take Kate long to slide the other cot into the room next to his. She was careful not to bang it into MacReady's, but he still stifled a sound in his throat when she lay down.

"You elbowed me."

"Sorry."

Unasked, he started into his story, as if he were reliving it. "You would have thought this big guy was crazy. He was trying to shoot a dog, and screaming in Norwegian. Garry shot him." It's what ended up being the precipitous event at #31. He felt like sharing, as much to get it off his chest as to run through it out loud so everything could start to make some sort of sense.

Kate's face froze in surprise, her mouth forming an o. "Lars? He didn't speak English. Lars is who this Garry person of yours killed." She had taken a short detour back to the Norwegian camp before heading toward the Russians, hoping to find Lars. But she gave up after calling him several times. Still she had held a small hope that maybe he'd made it to one of the other camps and was safe. Now that hope was gone.

"Kate, I take it you checked me out when you found me."

In the darkness Kate shrugged. "No, not at first."

"Really? I thought you called yourself a scientist."

"Paleontologist."

"Whatever."

"You were close to death when I found you. You were delirious and in and out of consciousness from the cold."

"If you were wrong, I could have killed you. That was a hell of a chance on your part."

"It was a chance worth taking." She found her reaction at the remains of the U.S. base odd. Her rational side could easily handle seeing an already dead body, but having to care for a man who was in as bad a shape as MacReady had been during the chopper ride back to the Russian camp, had been almost too much for her to handle.

That had scared her in a way that fighting the thing hadn't. She could only thank god, the Russian's med chopper actually had a Bair Hugger on board to warm him.

"I was so desperate to save you that I jumped into the Bair Hugger with you on the way back. After you were stable enough, I washed you and got you into those clothes you have on."

His right eyebrow lurched up in a smirk. "Really?"

"Don't worry, I didn't see anything important." As soon as she said it she felt like the world's biggest idiot. Great going Kate, insult your only ally here, she thought to herself.

Either MacReady didn't notice her attempt at a bad joke or he simply didn't care. Either way, his face registered no discernible emotion. Absentmindedly he touched his face and looked up at her.

"My beard. I never sleep walked as a kid so I doubt shaved myself."

Kate let out a weak smile. "I did it. It's silly, but when I get sick, shaving my legs makes me feel better, so I figured it wouldn't hurt you."

"Thanks, I think. Just tell me, you didn't shave my legs too." MacReady laughed at the thought of that. His old army buddies would have never let him live that down.

Kate couldn't help but laugh along with him in the dark. Laughing was better than any of the pills she had been shoving down her throat in hopes of dulling her feelings.

"I'm glad one of us still has a sense of humor."

"Hell, it wasn't that funny!" He poked her in the side teasingly, and motioned to her to turn off the lamp. "Get some sleep."


End file.
